I'm running through char-gen with a group at the moment, and one of the things which came up was a question about starting gear.
Yes, Fate Core tends to handwave equipment--if you have the skill, you have the tools to use it. But there's also rules for spending Stunts/Refresh to buy weapons that do additional shifts of damage and armor that provides additional shifts of protection... and the crunchier equipment listings in Transhuman Fate seem to imply we're supposed to lean more in that direction? Not to mention all the expensive and sophisticated non-combat gadgets and gizmos available to your everyday EP character...
...but after spending Refresh on morph traits and stunts, are they likely to have much to spare for stuff?
It might be this is the post-scarcity attitude problem rearing its head again, and that it's part of EP's background that characters can get their hands on whatever they need relatively easily. It just feels like some guidance might be of benefit in the final book. Otherwise players are naturally going to lean towards the most effective gear they can get away with, and ignore the less effective stuff - if they're a fighter type, why wouldn't they have a Plasma Rifle...?
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Starting gear
Tue, 2014-12-09 15:19
#1
MysteryCat
Starting gear
Mon, 2014-12-22 01:04
#2
Aldrich
MysteryCat wrote:If they're a
Narrative restrictions. Deadly weapons (especially high-end ones with the potential for mass destruction, like a plasma rifle) will be restricted or outright illegal almost everywhere. They might also be difficult to obtain - just because you have the blueprints doesn't mean you have the right uranium isotope to actually build one.
Other than that I would say that there shouldn't be any reason they couldn't start with a plasma rifle. It will make for an interesting story when they try to walk around with it and the local SWAT team shows up.
Really though, I've found that Fate players aren't usually into the sort of min-maxing that would make them want to start with a plasma rifle just because it was the "best gun". Mention the social implications and they'll probably change it, or they'll come up with an interesting story to explain the ownership. Either seems fine to me.
Regarding the larger question, I would require spending refresh on an item in the same situation I would require spending refresh on a stunt: when it makes the character a special snowflake. If anyone in your game could have a plasma rifle, then having one isn't anything special and shouldn't cost refresh. If plasma rifles are very rare and more powerful than all the other weapons in your game, the character who owns one is a a special snowflake who has a mechanical advantage over everyone else and their puny commoner guns, and that should cost a point of refresh.